November 12, 2015: Dealers Choice

Man I miss playing cards. Before all this Texas holdem stuff, although after Rounders we certainly played a lot of that, there was any number of games one could choose from when dealing. It was called Dealers Choice.

5 card draw, 7 card stud, burn, king little, Cincinnati, 7/27, Hollywood, super Hollywood, black Mariah, baseball, basketball, queen of hearts/queen of spades, between the sheets, buy the deuce, chase the ace, and everybody’s favorite named after yours truly, ski’s game.  We played them all, all the time.  Yeah, it feels like long ago, but any game we picked, we had fun; that was the goal, and to not lose that much money.

Why am I talking about this today?  Well, in thinking about the Cubs offseason options, there are many, many routes that we can have fun with as long as we don’t spend too much money; although I would love to have the Cubs bankroll which is still growing.  Still, whichever combination of trades, signings, & call ups we choose, it all points up, and that’s great…and since I’m “dealing”, here are my choices.

Let’s start with the easy ones:

1b Rizzo SS Russell 3b Bryant

Not much to debate here, unless you’re thinking Kris for the OF.  Please don’t tell me you think Baez or Castro are better choices at SS.  And at first, yep.  These are a couple others that I’d like to see.

2b Baez C Schwarber RF Soler

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That leaves some OF positions.  Yes, we have Almora and McKinney in the pipeline.  Are they ready yet?  I say let’s bring one or both up.  I like Gordon, think Heyward is a bit overrated, and wouldn’t mind keeping Dexter for a good price, but let’s infuse some more young guys in the mix.  I’d like to have one of the guys we traded back as a veteran addition, Angel Pagan, although he hasn’t stayed healthy.  That all sounds good, unless we could pull off a blockbuster for Mike Trout.  Impossible?  Maybe, but not many teams would have the pieces like us, and it is MY choice…

Jake 1, Lester 2, Hendricks 5

This is where we need to invest the dough.  I’m fine with Price.  Pass on zack and cueto and grab Samardzjia and Zimmerman.  I’m not against bringing Jeff back and I like Jordan, but I’d really love David, unless of course we get somebody for Castro and Montero and whoever else…like somebody else we had…Chris Archer anyone?  Again, probably untouchable, but why not?

I also think we get another big arm in the pen.  Like rondon, think Grimm and Ramirez will be fine.  Strop reminds me too much of Marmol.  How about a big time lefty?  Andrew Miller?  Again probably not, but I can’t think of another coveted lefty right now.  Travis Wood ain’t going to cut it.

Ok, so a quick first look at the 2016 Cubs.  Much, much more to come on that subject. What will the first move be?  Oh wait, we already signed a reliever.  Welcome Ryan Cook.  Next up is?  Any ideas, thoughts?  Go ahead, your deal.